Tamara Meekins

One night I was standing in Tara’s front yard and I looked up in the sky and saw a smoke cloud going across the sky. She lives in a remote location so it was very dark and you could see all the stars. I pulled out my sky guide app and tried to figure out what I was looking at but it only pointed out stars and planets. Fast forward to this trip and we went to the Museum of Natural History. There was literally a whole exhibit giving me my answer. I was looking at the Milky Way Galaxy!!

80% of the Northern US can’t see it because they have too many lights around blocking their view of the sky. I’m guilty of blocking my own view with uplighting around my house.

In the areas where there is not alot of light pollution you can see spectacular amounts of stars and the milky way although it is not as colorful to the naked eye. It’s a hazy gray color because our eyes filter out the true color but cameras have special filters that are able to pick up the true colors.

A community in Flaggstaff Arizona placed an ordinance banning street lights to preserve their view of the sky.

We also walked through pre-historic times and saw some dinosaurs. And saw the largest collection of gems.

We had a great lunch from a food truck outside the Smithsonian. Halal lamb and chicken.Read more